Wool evening and drawing machine.



71%. 874,715. PATENTBD DEG; 24; 19ov.

" v. s. WBSTGOTT & F. W. POTTER.

WOOL EVENING AND DRAWING MACHINE.

5 snnn'rs-snnnw 1.

APPLIUATIOH I ILED NOV. 14,1906.

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No. 874,715. PATENTED DEG.. 24, 190'? V. S. WESTGOTT & F. W. POTTER.

WOOL EVENING AND DRAWING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 14.1906.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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m ATTORNEYS- No. 874,715. PATENTED DEC. 24, 1907" v. s. WBSTGOTT & P. w. POTTER.

WOOL EVENING AND DRAWING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.14, 1906.

5 sums-SHEEN.

ATTORNEYS- v. s; WESTOOTT & F. W; POTTER.

PATENTED DEC. 24, 1907.

APPLICATION IILBDVNOV. 14.1906.

a SHEETS-SHEET 4.

1 lllhllllllllll 1 m" @mi E m lllllllllllllli Ill INVENTORS BY 7716mm 2% ATTORNEYS- No. 874,715. PATENTED DEC. 24, 1907. V. S. WESTGOTT & F. W, POTTER. WOOL EVENING AND DRAWING MACHINE.

APPLIUATION FILED NOV. 14. 1906.

INVEN TORS.

Wot?! 6 SHEETS- SHEET 5.

\S i Q wa Z44 ATTORNEYS.

' 3o gill box are then drawn through a ball ill ceived in cans which are weighed and two UNITED sir-Ares PATENT OFFICE.

VALORUS s. WESTOOTT, or PAWTUGKET, AND ,ERANK w, POTTER, or cn N'rRALrALLs,

RHODE ISLAND.

WOOL EVENING AND DRAWING MACHINE.

To all'whom it may concern United States, residing at Pawtucket and 5. Central Falls, respectively, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Wool Evening and Drawing Machines, of which the fol lowing is a specification.

In a complamon application filed of even date herewit Serial Number 343,410 we have described at length present day methodsof producing worsted yarns, and the necessity i and importance from a commercial stand.- 15

oint ofmaking a yarn that shall be of uniorm weight for a given count.. According to present methods the wool after oing through the carding and combing mac es is passed through a series of gill boxes the object being to lay the fibers parallel, and by running several ends into one to reduce as much'as possible the thick and thin places to produce a level yarn. 'In a ty ical worsted mill with which we are fami 'ar four gill boxes are em loyed through 'which the wool passes as fol ows. The-first is knownas a double-can ill box through which about thirty ends om the comblng machine are Eight or more ends from the first box, the resulting single sliver being r0 ed into a ball. second gill box are then run into one throu h. what is known as a double-can gill weig box. The slivers from this ill box are re ends therefrom approximatingthe same weight, are run into one through a two-spin The slivers from the last gill dle gill box. box are Wound on spools which sup ly the drawing frames. I Variations in'welg t in a yarn of given count of anywhere between five and fifteen per cent. is the common experience, such variations being due to the fact 0 erator to average the slivers as they pass t ough the third gill box. By close attention to the slivers with respect to thick and thin places-and by introducing a greater or less number of ends accordin to circumequalize the variations in weight of the several slivers and'to produce a single sliver I Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 14, 1906. Serial No. 343M1- Frorn eight to ten ends from the that dependence is placed upon the skill of an stances the operator is enable to partially.

and at best the'method pursued is mere guess work and wholly unsatisfactory, it being impossible to produce a sliver, and consequently'a yarn of uniform weight. Moreautomatically delivering a sliver of substantially uniform weight, thereby lessening the number of gill boxes, or at least if four ,gilling ofierations are necessary to properly, para elize the fiber, then doing away with the previous guess work method of averaging the slivers now resorted to.

Briefly stated this machine comprises an evener rolland back and front drawin rolls,

and fallers ogerating as in previously own gillboxes. he back drawing rolls are di- Eitented Dec. 24, 1907?. 9-

over such method followed by two difierent slivers by an operator as vided into three sets one of which is driven at a constant rate of speed, and the others with the evener roll at varying rates of speed determined by the weight of the entering slivers, all as more fully described hereinafter. g

ence to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a top view of the machinecertain parts of the sliver evening mechanism being omitted; Fig. 2 a central longitudinal sectionof the machine of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 aside elevation thereof looking in the direction of the arrow at in 1; Fig. 4.is an end elevation partly in section, in the direction of the The invention will be understood by refer v arrow 1) in Fig. 1; Fig. 5 a detail elevation/of a part of the variable speed motion; Fig. 6 a

vertical sectional view of said speed motion;

and Fi 7 a transverse section on the plane of the hue 7-7 of Fig. 2. v

Similar reference numerals indicate similar parts inthe several views. V t

1 Referringto the drawin s numeral 1 designates a frame of suitable ormand proportrons adapted to supporththe several ,parts of the machine as herein described. Supported in bearings at the back of the. frame is an I evener r0 1 2 and drawi rolls3 and 4, th e speed of rotatlon' of saif .rolls automaticallyvaried according to the weight of the entering slivers through the following means.

designates the power shaft having the usual fast and loose ulleys hereon and adapted to be driven fi'om any convenient source of power. This shaft, as seen in Fig. 4, has bearings in the frame 1 and has keyed thereto a gear wheel 6 which meshes with a similar but larger gear 7 keyed on a shaft 8. The shaft 8 carries on its outer projecting end a disk 9 adapted to transmit its vmotion if through a freely turning friction Wheel 10 to an oppositely. disposed disk 11,, said latter disk eing secured to -a shaft 12 mounted in bearings in the frame 1 and in a standard 13. Theshaft 12 is yieldingly movable in a longitudinal direction by. means of a spring 14 surrounding said shaft between a collar 12 secured thereto and a fixed thrust bearing 13. The s eed of shaft 8 is substantially pniform, an the arrangement of'disks 9 and 11. such that the driving and driven shafts 8 and 12, respectively, revolve in the same direction. The axis .of the three revoluble friction members 9, 10 and 11 are in the same horizontal lane. j

On the s aft 8 is keyed a worm 15, shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4, which meshes with a worm wheel 16. The shaft 16 of said worm wheel is mounted in suitable bearings and has keyed thereto at its upper end a bevel gear 17 meshing with a simi ar gear 17. latter is mounted on a stub shaft which has The keyed thereto a spur gear 18 which through *an intermediate 18 is connected with a gear 19 keyed on the shaft of the evener roll. On the op osite end of the evener roll is a gear 19 w 'ch, through an intermediate 19", meshes with a gear 20 (see Fig. 1) on the lower back drawing roll 3. On the opposite end of said roll is a spur gear 20 which,

through an'intermediate 20 meshes with a gear 21 on the shaft of the lower back drawmg roll 4.

As will bereadily understood, the speed ratio of the disk 11 to the drivin in the weig t of the sliver from a normal as will now be described. I

In order to automatically effect the desired movements. of friction wheel 10 we employ a series of detectors which bear directly u on the slivers and which 006 erate with t e evener roll 2 to confine the s 'vers on all sides at all times. These detectors may be disk 9 is governed by the position relative y thereto connected in such manner to the wheel 10 that the whole duty of effecting the movements of said wheelis imposed upon the slivers, or we may employ. independent .power actuated means to perform the actual work of shifting the friction wheel and require of the slivers only the duty of permitting such means to become operative for the desired purpose. It will be understood that the present drawings illustrate only the preferred form of sliver evening mechanism and that any other type is included within the broad scope of our lnvention when connected with the remaining mechanism as more fully described hereinafter.

The evener roll 2 has a series of peripheral grooves 2, adapted to receive Without binding upon the side walls thereof a corresponding number of detector disks. or wheels 25 revolubly supported on studs carried by yokes 26. These yokes are secured to vertical rods 27 the upper ends of which constitute knife edges and support saddles 28, the latter in turn supporting the upper saddle 29 which is in engagement through an intermediate knife edge 30 with the under side of a lever 31. These arts are so constructed and adjusted that in the absence of a sliver a given disk 25 will rest upon the bottom of its groove 2 of the evener roll, and when a sliver is passing through the evener roll any variation thereof from a normal weight will be indicated by the rising and falling movements of the disks 25, such movements being communicated to lever 31 through the system just described. Lever 31 is fulcrumed on a knife edge 32 carried by a stirrup attached to a bracket of the frame, and is balanced byan adjustable weight 33. The outer end of the long arm of lever 31 is adapted to support adjustably therein a vertical rod 34, said rod ,havin secured thereto through a connection.

34 a ink 35. The latter carries a block or shoe 36 having an inclined or wedge face 36. (Jo-acting with said block is a com lemental block 37 having a channel in the inc ed face thereof adapted to receive antifriction balls 38. As shown in Fig. 1 the block 37 is carried by a yoke 39 to one end of which is secured a s indle 40 having bearings in suit able stan ards, said spindle having mounted thereon a bracket 40 in which is revolubly supported the friction wheel 10. To the outer-end of yoke 39 is secured a rod 41 to which is attached a weight 41 the function of which is to maintain the blocks 36 and 37 in frictional engagement with each other. The bracket 42 in which the rod 41 is slid-v ably mounted has an arm carrying a roller 42' which bears against the back of block 36. Block 37 is provided with pins.37 on the side thereof (see Figs. 1 and 5) whichengage slots in a forked head 43 of a bracket 43, such means serving to roperlyiguide the block 37 .and yoke 39.'f The mode of operation of the sliver evening'mchanism will be referred to later after adescri-ptionto be now given of the other parts of the machine.

At the front of the machine supported in suitable bearings is a set of drawing rolls 44,

and at the back is the third set of back drawing rolls 47. Between the rolls 44 and 47 are fallers 50. The lower of the front rolls 44 is connected directly to the main shaft 5 through a belt 45, and through the train of gears 46 and 46 (see Fig. 1). The shaft of said roll is connected to the shaft of the lower one of the back feed rolls 47; The gears 46 and 46 are so proportioned that the speed ratio of the front rolls 44 to that of the back rolls 47 is about 5:1,. The drawing rolls have their surfaces corrugated and between thefront rolls is passedan endless apronw 48,

. front lower roll 44 are-spur gears 52 (see Figs.

1 and 2) which meshwith similar gears 53 keyed on stub shaftswhich also carry. bevel 1gears 54. These'latter mesh with gears 55 eyed onthe shafts of the lower screws 56,

i said screws being disposed longitudinally of the upper screws 59.

,have bearings in the frame of the machine the machine. On the shafts of the screws 56 are keyed spur gears 57 (see Fig. 3) which mesh with'similar gears 58 on the shafts of The two sets of screws 7, and are engaged'b y the fallers to effect the forward and backward travel of the lat- .ter, the'pitch of the lower relatively to that of the upper screws being-such as to cause the fallers in their backward movement to travel fasterthan in their'forward movement, as is well understood. The screws 56 and 59 are provided with the usual cams 60 andv 61 which act respectivelyto raise. and lower the father's. C

Keyed on the shaft of one ofthe lower "screws 56 is a spur gear'62 (see Fig. 1) meshing with a similar gear on" a shaft 63 from which a belt is run to a revdlubletruin et 64,'the latter having abearing in a brac eton the frame of the machine. The single sliver emerging from the trumpet is rolled into a ball 65 at the front of the machine.

- This ball is wound on a,v spindle 66 having bearingsin blocks 67 (see Fig. 3) slidable vertically in guides 68.! Supported in brackets 69are two-shafts 70 on whichare splinedcorrugated 'rolls71, the ball 65 resting 'upon said rolls; The guides 68 and rolls 71 are.

i mounted upon a carriage which comprises a" transversely slotted base. 72 'ada'pted to-be' engaged by a crank pin 73 on a disk 7 '4. The- 65- latter is carried on a vertical shaft supported Frclls.

in a bracket and has keyed on its lower end bevel gear 75 meshing with a similar gear'75' on a horizontal shaft 76. Near the outer end of shaft 76 is keyed a spur gear 77 which meshes with a similar gear 7 Shaving a wide face. Gears 79 keyed on the shafts 70 are in mesh with gear 78 so as to" rotate said shafts and the rolls 71 in the same direction to effect the winding oft-he ball 65. Shaft 76 is driven through any suitable means as a chain 80 passing around sprocket wheels keyed on said shaft and the shaft of the lower front drawing roll 44.

The operation of the -machine above described is as follows. As many ends 8 1 as may be necessary are taken from the cans 8 and led through suitable guides into the bite of the evener and detector-"rolls; 'lhey pass thence through the drawing rolls 3, 4 arid 47 fallers 50 and front drawing bolts 44 to the balling mechanism. on their way, to the evener roll the slivers pass over spoons 83 adapted to-actuate a knock-ofi mechanism upon the'exhaustionor breakage of a sliver. In passing through the grooves of the evener roll the slivers are confined on all sides, that is betw een the bottom and sidewalls of saidgrooves and the detectors.

The latter bear the plane of fixed confinement a detector will respond instantly to any variation in the w eight of the corresponding sliver, whether that variation is in a vertical or a transverse direction. The several parts of the machine described are adjusted primarily for a sliver of. normal weight. If the weight of a given sliver runs above normal the corresponding detector will rise slightly and through the frame of compound levers described will sliver run below normal the detector will move (low nw ardly and thus effect a loweringv of the outer end of lever 31. lhese movements of lever 31 are transmitted tothe rod 34 and block 36 and when said block is raised by an increase in the-wei ht of the sliver it acts on the complemental block 37 moving the latter to the left, and through the described connections v ill shift frictionwheel 10 tow ard the axis of the driving disk 9 thus effectin a corresponding decrease inthe speed of rdtation of disk 11 and through the train of gears described the speed of the drawing and evener rolls 3 and 4 will be re- '1 dlrectly upon the slivers and the latter being .yieldingly mounted in aplane transverse to I05 raise the outer end 'of lever-.31. Should. a

duced." .A movable block 36 in a downward direction when asliver runs below normal t ill eflect through weight 4E a movement of yoke 39 and consequently 'ofthe friction wheel 10 to the right or tow ard the periphery of disk 9. This movement w ill increase the speed of rotation of the evener and drawing As will be understood by those familiar with the art, the movements of friction Wheel 10 are very limited and that practical conditions deal with variations of grains per yard of sliver.

From the foregoing itwill be seen that the speed of the rolls 2, 3 and 4 is automatically lessened if a given sliver increases in weight, -thereby permitting the uniformly rotating rolls 47 to draw the sliver down to normal Weight. If there is a decrease below the normal when a given sliver enters the evener a few roll the speed of said roll and of the drawing rolls 3 and 4 will be automatically increased above that of the rolls 47, so that the amount or weight of material entering the rolls 47 is substantially uniform under all conditions. The sliver which is rolled into the ball 65 is, therefore, of substantially uniform weight for a given unit of length,.and if the doublecan gill Weigh-box is to be retained by reason of the necessity for another gilling operation, the operator is merely called upon to keep that machine supplied with the necessary number of ends, being relieved entirel of the work of averaging the slivers. It f0 lows that the spinning frames will besupplied with spindles from the two-spindle gill box carryinga uniform sliver, and that the rovin s from the drawing frames will be of form weight for a like 0 aracter as to weight for a given count of-yarn. I h j By reason of the extra drawing through the rolls 3 and. 4 of the evener mechanism it will be possible to omit the third gill box inasmuch asthe relation of the drawin rolls 3 and 4 and the evener roll 2 to the rawing rolls 47 is such that there is a draft of three, that is a given unit of length of sliver enterin the evener roll is drawn tothree times t at lengthb the rolls 47. If the third gill box hereto ore used is omitted the slivers will be taken directly from the machine herein described to the two-spindle.

gill box.

The term Worsted yarn as used herein is intended to cover not only a yarn made from the wool of the sheep but mohair and kindred yarns requiring a like treatment pre- .paratory to the spinning operation. Believi 2. A machine 0% the character described comprising a gill box having back drawing rolls and means for rotating the same, and mechanism for delivering to said rolls a sliver of substantially uniform weight for a given I unit of length.

3. A'machine of'the character described comprising front and back drawing rolls, means for rotating said rolls'at different but constant rates of speed, fallers intermediate said rolls, and mechanism for delivering to said back rolls a sliver of substantially uniform weight for a given unit of len th.

4. In a machine of the character escribed the combination of a gill box comprising drawing rolls and means for rotating the same, a sliver evening mechanism comprislng evening and drawing rolls, and means for varying the speed of rotation of the rolls of said evening mechanism.

5. In a machine of the character described the combination of a gill box comprising drawing rolls and fallers, means for actuating said rol s and fallers, and means for varying the rate of feed of the sliver entering the g1 box as the sliver varies in weight.

' 6. In a machine of the character described the combination of a gill box comprising drawin rolls and fallers, means for actuating said rofisand fallers, a detector movable in response to variations of the sliver from a normalweight, and means adapted to be set in operation by said detector to. vary the rate of feed of the sliver to the gill box.

7. In a machine of the character described the combination of a gill boxcomprising drawing rolls and fallers, means for confining the sliver,-a detector resting or bearing on said sliver and movable in response to variations in the weight of the sliver from a normal, and means adapted to be set in o eration by said detector to vary the rate 0 feed of the sliver to the'gill box. I

8. In a machine of the character described the combination of a gill box comprising drawing rolls and fallers, a sliver evening mechanism comprising relatively fixed and movable members between which the sliver is at all times confined on all sides, and means actuated by said movable member when the sliver varies from a normal weight to vary the rate of feed of the sliver entering the gi l box.

9. In a machine of the character described the combination of a gill box comprising back drawing rolls, means for rotating said rolls at a constant rate of speed, a sliver evening mechanism comprising drawing rolls, and means for varying the speed of rotation of said latter rolls relativel to the former as the ,gliver varies in wei ht rom a'normal.

10. A machine 0 the character described comprising front and back drawing rolls, means for rotating said rolls at different but constant rates of speed, fallers intermediate said rolls and means for actuating the same,

means for confining a sliver on all sides comprising a yieldingly mounted detector, and means actuated by said detector when the sliver varies from a normal weight to correspondingly vary the rate of feed of the sliver to said back drawing rolls.

' comprising front 11. A machine of the character described comprising front and back drawing rolls, means for rotating said rolls at different but constant-rates of speed, fallers intermediate 5, said rolls. and means for actuating thesame, means to unyieldingly confine a slivs sr in one direction, a movable detector adapted to bear uponv the sliver and operating in a plane transverse to the plane of fixedconfinement,

10 and means actuated by. said detector when the sliver varies from a normal weight to "correspondingly' vary the rate of feed of the sliver to said back rolls. M

12. A machine of the character described 5 and back drawing rolls,

means for rotating said rolls at difierent but constant rates of speed, fallers intermediate said rolls and means for actuating the same,

an evener roll having a groove therein, a

movable detector seated within the groove and co-acting. with the roll toconfine the sliver on all sides, and means actuated by said detector when'the sliver varies from a normal weight to correspondingly vary therate of feed of the sliver to said back rolls.

13. A machine of the character described comprising front and back drawing rolls, means for rotating said rolls at different but constant rates of speed, fallers intermediate said rolls and means for actuating the same,

an evener roll, drawing rolls geared to said ,evener roll, a detector adapted to bear upon the sliver, and mechanism actuated by said detector when the sliver varies from a normal weight to correspondingly vary the speed of rotation of said evener roll and the rolls geared thereto, to thereby deliver to said back rolls a sliver of substantially uniform weight for a given unit of length.

14. A machine of the character described comprising front and back drawing rolls,

means for rotating said rolls at di fierent-but constant rates of speed, fallers intermedlate .said rolls and meansfor actuating the same,

an evener roll and back drawing rolls geared thereto, a detector co-acting with said evener roll to confine the sliver on all sides, and means actuated by said detector when the sliver varies from a normal weight to correspondingly vary the speed of rotation of said evener roll and the rolls geared thereto, to

'of said evener roll and the drawing rolls geared thereto.

' 16. A machine of thecharacter described comprising a gill boX,

and mechanism adapted to be set in operation by a sliver when it 'varies from a normal weight to correspondingly vary the rate of feed of said sliver to sliver of substantially uniform weight for a given unit of length.

the gill box to thereby deliver to the latter a In testimony whereof we have hereunto signed our names in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

VALORUS S. WESTCOTT.

FRANK W. POTTER.

Witnesses:

OHAs. H. HYDE, FRANCIS H. WASHBURN. 

